


Pink Ribbons

by thelastpunch



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Family, Fluff and Crack, Friendship, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-16
Updated: 2014-04-16
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:55:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1473904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelastpunch/pseuds/thelastpunch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Advent Children, Vincent and the others meet at Tifa's bar to celebrate their second victory of the Sephiroth reunion. Whilst Vincent tries to escape the happenings of the bar, Marlene and Denzel take a liking to the mysterious man and try to befriend him. Vincent however, regrets his compliance later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pink Ribbons

Midgar had always been unusually quiet after Meteor hit, but now after the second reunion of Sephiroth, life had returned and fear had vanished along with the Geostigma. Children were bustling outside the small bar for hours on end, adults chatting with cheery tones and couples finding each other once again. The small street was crowded with people, although the former Turk recognised none of them from memory.

Vincent had been sitting on the roof for some time, his thoughts floating around the day’s battles within Edge’s streets. A pair of children waved to him from below and continued to run about the small street, jumping in puddles and eventually returning to the house across from him.

A blonde head walked out from the bar and glanced up at the night sky briefly before turning around with a sigh. He didn’t bother to look up and instead lit a cigarette, knowing the man he was looking for was in his usual spot.

“Damn it Vincent, one of the advantages of having a friend with a bar is getting free drinks, now get your brooding ass down here and get pissed with me.”

Vincent huffed with humour and hid his face behind his high collar, “I’d rather not, Cid.”

Cid grumbled and stomped on his cigarette, “have it your way then...”

The door to the bar reopened and the sound of laughter and movement flowed into Vincent’s ears. He sighed.

_What am I doing?_

Vincent’s attention was recaptured when the door opened to reveal two laughing children and a bundle of orange fur.

“Denzel, have you got the ball?”

The small figure turned with a broad smile, one that was rare on the boy, “yep.”

Denzel continued to kick the ball rather hard to Marlene, who yelped and jumped to the side as it flew past her side.

“You could have killed me!”

“With a soccer ball?”

Marlene tried not to smile and hid her face as she ran to pick up the ball, “well, maybe not.”

Red XIII sat on the side lines as the children continued to kick the ball to one another, occasionally bumping it back with his tail.

Vincent continued to watch in his dark silence, allowing a smile when his lazing friend failed to dodge the incoming ball and growled at his company.

Denzel went over to the large curled up beast and briefly apologised, before accidently kicking the ball high above everyone. Vincent quickly moved his head to the side as the ball flew over his shoulder and rolled into the roof’s gutter.

Marlene ran to Denzel’s side, “sorry Mr Valentine! Would you pass us the ball please?”

Uncrossing his arms and grabbing the object next to him, Vincent dropped down onto the street and handed Marlene the ball.

“Vincent is just fine.”

Red XIII snorted before he could control himself and received a lecturing glare from his smaller companions.

“Do you want to play with us?”

Marlene rocked on her heels at her friend’s suggestion, her hair bobbing in its ponytail with enthusiasm.

“Please?”

The sight reminded Vincent of the flower girl that everyone so dearly held in their hearts and shook his head.

“I’ll keep score instead.”

“How about you Nanaki? Please, please, please--” Marlene held the cutest face she possibly could, shoving out her bottom lip and rushing to the spectating beast with a skip.

“As long as we have an honest scorer this time, watch out Denzel.”

“I wasn’t cheating!”

Vincent smirked from behind his collar, “No, but you were awful.”

“Oh! Now you’re only going to encourage him to cheat!”

Marlene quickly ran off with the ball with Red XIII who was now wagging his tail rhythmically from side to side.

“It may be his only way to win from what I’ve witnessed.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad!”

Vincent sat on the steps leading to the bar and proceeded to take score.

 

The game continued for some time, Marlene and Denzel continuously trying to out-do each other while Nanaki ran around them under the streetlights. Another group of children that were watching from a distance soon joined in and the small group split into teams of three. Vincent lost count of the score that Denzel was so insistent of before, but when asked, stated it was obvious Marlene had won. The small girl looked utterly victorious and Red XIII used the opportunity to escape back into the bar with a grateful nod to his caped friend.

Marlene ran towards Vincent with a smile, she sat beside him on the steps and together they watched the game blissfully continue.

Vincent silently pondered why the girl was so fearless, he had never before been so openly approached by a child and remembered her actions in the forgotten forest.

_Humph. I wonder why that is._

Vincent silently acknowledged his crossed arms, stern posture, and over-all antisocial behaviour. To him, it was a wonder why this innocent little girl wanted his presence at all.

“Did you buy a phone?”

He turned his gaze to see Marlene’s curious face glancing back up at him with hidden humour.

“Apparently they’re very expensive, or so I’ve heard from Yuffie.”

“She didn’t just steal one?”

Vincent chuckled at her truly innocent comment, thinking back to the time when the Wutaian teen couldn’t be trusted with materia of any sort.

“You know about that incident do you?”

“Daddy told me all about it! He told me heaps about your adventures when all the fighting was finally over.”

Vincent looked over the smiling young girl and caught eye of the amulet Dyne had given Barret as a last request for his daughter.

_I wonder how much she truly knows?_

Marlene straightened herself up on the steps, putting on a grim face and holding her right arm up.

“’Spikey was a mess an’ I told him to man up or we’d be leavn’ without him!’” She nodded her head firmly and abandoned her impersonation of the gun-armed fighter with a small smile.

Vincent hid his own smile once more; that did sound like something Barret would say.

“You could surpass for the man himself.”

Light flooded them from behind as the door opened and Cait Sith jumped over Marlene’s head, the cat fell onto its back at the bottom of the stairs and started to pull itself up with a mumble.

Vincent looked down at the dishevelled feline, wondering where Reeve could possibly be and what he was so busy with lately.

“There you are laddie! We’re all wondering where you went, but I guess we should have known either way.”

The cat straightened the crown on its head and proceeded to sway its arms beside him.

“Why don’t you indulge these kids with their game?”

“Game, you say?”

Marlene nodded in confirmation and looked over to find the soccer ball abandoned in the middle of the street. Denzel was running from a girl holding a toy moogle in one hand and covering her eyes with the other as she shouted a brief countdown. There were now about eight or so other different kids hiding along with Denzel and Marlene spotted one hiding behind a dumpster in the opposing alleyway.

“I think I will at that! How about you laddie?”

Cait Sith bounced up and down in front of Marlene but she shook her head, “no thanks.”

“Ah, you party pooper…”

The mechanical cat turned to see the counting girl open her eyes and focus in on him, “Okay! See if you can catch _me_ now!”

Vincent and Marlene watched as the chase began. Both child and cat ran down the expanse of the street and circled back around until Cait Sith eventually slowed and the girl pounced on him in his defeat.

 

Everyone was completely relying on the light provided by the street lamps now and still Marlene didn’t budge from Vincent’s side.

“Your hair is even longer than mine.”

The girl reached out but stopped herself as Vincent’s gaze fell on her small hand, “can I?”

“That depends, what are you going to do with it?”

“Just play, I swear!” Marlene made a crossing motion over her heart in sign of a promise, “I used to with Tifa but she’s always so busy now.”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed and he grumbled.

_I suppose this is what children do after all…_

“Fine.”

Marlene smiled and quickly jumped up to sit on the higher step behind her willing victim.

Vincent grimaced as Marlene started to hum; the sheer thought of what the girl would do was torture enough let alone her stringing the process along.

“And?”

“Give me a minute, I’m thinking of what I’m going to do.”

Vincent quietly groaned and Marlene hit him on the shoulder, “You said that I could!”

“…I take back what I said.”

“You can’t do that! Okay, okay I’ll hurry up I promise.”

Vincent crossed his arms and straightened his legs down the length of the stairs, getting comfortable for what he thought would surely take hours.

_Why did I say yes... Of all the mistakes you’ve made Vincent, this could be the most painful yet._

Marlene started to grab sections of dark hair and twirl them around her fingers while Vincent sat quietly and waited.

“I need a brush, I’ll be back so don’t go anywhere!”

Vincent turned from the waist up and grabbed Marlene’s retreating form by the arm as quickly as he could without hurting her. Just thinking of the girl explaining to everyone in the bar why she needed a brush made Vincent grimace; Cid would never let it down.

“You’ll do fine without it.”

Marlene smirked, “Are you embarrassed?”

“Not at all,” Vincent lied, letting go of her arm and facing towards the street once more.

“Okay, I guess I don’t really need it that much.”

Marlene sat back down behind Vincent, pulled out the bandana in his hair and gave it to him. She started to neatly plait his hair into one braid, stopping every once in a while to smooth his hair the best she could. Long strands of hair still framed his face and once Marlene was happy that she had everything perfect she clapped her hands.

“Done!”

Vincent raised his hand to feel what she had done and was happy not to find pigtails, ribbons or anything of the sort. He started to untie Marlene’s masterpiece before she quickly slapped his hand away.

“You’ll ruin it!” Marlene caught his weary glance and shook her head, “Nope, you have to leave it.”

“I never agreed to this.”

Vincent narrowed his eyes as the little girl deliberately pouted and crossed her arms.

_Stubborn little…_

“I’ll leave it.” A bright smile was thrown his way, “But only for tonight.”

She shrugged, ultimately happy with the outcome. Marlene quickly moved to fix what little damage Vincent had created to her masterpiece.

Marlene patiently sat on her higher step and watched as Cait Sith bounced up the stairs to the bar and abruptly stopped. Vincent narrowed his eyes dangerously and the cat decided to keep his comments to a minimum.

“Why are ya’ looking at me like that Vinnie? I think the young laddie here has done an excellent job indeed.”

Cait Sith continued to bounce up the stairs and stopped to ruffle Marlene’s hair before entering the noisy atmosphere of the bar.

“See, I did a great job.”

Vincent grumbled and hid his face behind the high collar of his coat, he had a feeling he would be doing that a lot tonight.

 

The door opened and the noise of glass breaking could be heard from inside, “Marlene, Denzel, it’s time to come back in!”

Denzel ran past the pair on the stairs with a smile and into the bar, Marlene stood waiting for Vincent to follow.

“Your not going to leave now, are you?”

“I’ll stay.”

Marlene followed behind her new friend as Vincent walked into the bar with a grim expression, not that anyone would notice that.

Tifa held open the door for them with a raised eyebrow and smiled at the taller man as he passed.

“Thanks Vince...”

He shrugged it off, thinking it better to ignore the situation all together.

 

The bar seemed the same as it was before the events of the day; the reunion, Bahamaut, Geostigma, nothing had effected the spirit of their usual group. Everyone was sitting around a large table near the entrance of the bar, Yuffie bustled around with drinks and Red XIII was once again being hassled by Cait Sith and the cat’s enthusiasm.

Yuffie was the first to notice Vincent’s arrival and approached him with a drink, “Finally! You’re here!”

With her loud antics, everyone turned in their seats to greet their awaited friend and were utterly surprised by what they saw. Marlene was clinging to his side, Tifa smiling and shaking her head behind them in disbelief, Vincent himself sighed and crossed his arms in preparation.

“Marlene, why don’t you and Denzel go upstairs, it’s too late for you both to be down here.”

Marlene let go of Vincent’s cape and ran up the stairs with Denzel after offering a small wave and a big smile.

“So I’m guessing Marlene got to you?”

Cloud spoke up from the group and nudged Cid, who had been sporting the most ridiculous expression Vincent had ever seen.

He nodded.

“That was really nice of you Vince, I think she’s taken a liking to you now.”

Yuffie put down her glass and giggled furiously into her hand, Cait Sith jumped up in front of her face and gave her a look to make her stop.

“Well damn. Never thought I’d see the day that Vincent would be sporting pink.”

“What?”

Everyone was then very confused.

Yuffie started laughing even more and Barret shook his head with a hoarse chuckle, not sure wether he should praise Marlene or scold her.

Cloud pointed to his friend’s head and smirked, “you didn’t notice?”

Vincent raised his hand and ran it along the top of his head, his brows furrowed.

“That was not there before.”

Cid burst out laughing before he could stop himself and Yuffie rushed to his side and leant against his shoulder while they lost themselves.

“What do you say you old coot? I think a bow suits him.”

Vincent quickly pulled out the material and found a bright pink ribbon in his hand, one not unlike the type everyone wore on behalf of Aeris’ memory.

Vincent looked up to find cloud grabbing his arm, where he wore his own ribbon and thought that he was thinking the same thing as him.

_She really does remind me of Aeris._

“Can I take a picture?” Yuffie blurted it out before rushing behind the bar.

“No.”


End file.
